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As an award winning blogger, David Butler helps others explore the world of craft beer in Northern Colorado. Fermentedly Challenged helps you find great places to enjoy a beer, listen to music, enjoy a meal and find a discount on your next pint. Follow along on social media - @ChipperDave on Twitter and on Facebook.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

It's brewery opening season in Colorado. Already this month there have been 3 new brewery openings and June promises to have several more openings as well. One such opening slated for June 1st is Beer By Design Brewery - coming to Northglenn, Colorado. The brewery issued a press release over the Memorial Weekend announcing their plans for their upcoming soft opening this weekend. The actual Grand Opening is tentatively scheduled for June 28th.

[PRESS RELEASE] May 27, 2013 - Northglenn, CO - After being introduced to home-brewed beer in the early 90’s, Vance Sabbe began pursuing the perfect process for creating a great tasting beer. His first brew kit led to another and about six months into it, Vance started a home brew shop – selling supplies for home brewers. He also developed a portable brewing system – “Port-A-Brewery” which he sold online for some time.

Vance had been working on plans for a brewery for about three year, when suddenly his job in the technology industry was eliminated. He decided the time had come and he began putting his research to work. Initially he looked at a number of scenarios, including a fully automated, robot controlled process. Vance finally determined that the right approach would be a 20 barrel brewing system with a 40 barrel fermenting system to make sure that customer’s favorite flavors were always “in-stock”.
Rich Aggen had worked with Vance for a number of years as part of their HOA board. Vance introduced him to homebrewing and Rich and his wife were quick to invest in Vance’s brewery idea. When the opportunity presented itself, Rich jumped at the chance to be a partner in the business, and the two began finalizing the initial business plans.

In November 2012, construction began on the 5,000 square foot space that would become Beer By Design Brewery. In December, signs went up on the building and in January their website www.beerbydesign.comand their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/beerbydesign) went live; allowing fansto follow along with their progress. Vance and Rich have been hands on in the setup of the brewery, doing everything from helping to hang the building signs, to laying cement, to installing equipment.

The philosophy behind Northglenn, CO’s first craft brewery is that fresh quality beer produced locally, using the finest ingredients and without chemicals in processing or for preservation is the key to success among beer drinking enthusiasts. Their system has been designed to be “green” – BBD has installed processes that save water and create a smaller carbon footprint, while increasing efficiency. “By lining up our processes, we decrease our water usage by about 80%.” Water is not only important to the process, but also to the flavor of the beer. BBD is proud to use Rocky Mountain Water, one of the finest water sources anywhere to create their beer.

In fact, BBD will pay tribute to the Rocky Mountains when they open their doors later this week by introducing the Mountain Ale Series. This soon-to-be signature line will feature favorites like Copper Mountain Pale Ale, Wild Mountain Wheat, Cascade Mountain IPA and Alpine Mountain Amber Ale. Other beers will include flavors from their Architectural Series, their Women & Beer Series and a new creation called “Hopstacle” a tribute to the start-up process.

Beer By Design will start with a soft open on June 1st with a grand opening event to follow later in the month. During their tap room hours (Monday through Friday, 2:00 pm to close and Saturday & Sunday, 11:00 am to close), the brewery will offer tours to the public. They will also self-distribute beers to retail liquor establishments in Colorado, including restaurants, bars, etc. “We want to make our beers real – drinkable – beers. We have designed them to be enjoyed over and over again.”

If you would like more information about Beer By Design, please contact Vance Sabbe at (303) 517-2202 or visit them online at www.beerbydesign.com.